Interview Questions, of the general kind... Options

[Babybird2]

Hello Forumites! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm currently preparing for an upcoming job interview, which I know expect will involve several what I would term "general" questions. Things like "Tell us about a time you had to deal with a difficult colleague", or "Tell us about a time when you had to resolve something.". I've come up with a few others, such as "...when you had to change your mind about something", "examples of team work", "organised something" and "planned your time effectively".

Has anyone got any other suggestions for questions that I might be able to prepare? Without giving too much away, it's a science industry job, and I've never had an interview for a job like that before (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Thank you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[andante]

Would you say you are proactive or reactive?

[PatC]

Reminds me of when I was up for promotion a few years ago and the process involved all sorts of stuff like panel interviews and role plays... It was a big company so there was a lot of guidance and coaching on how to do well in the process.

Here are a few things that may be relevant:

-- We were recommended to prepare several "True stories" about ourselves which showed us in a good light. Then we could trot them out, adapted as necessary, when asked for an example of "When you did X or Y". I found it helpful actually to rehearse the words out loud, as choice of words can be very telling.

-- We were told to emphasise our personal contribution, talking about "I", rather that saying "we" all the time. Apparently this is a common failing of women - we like to make out we are team players but the i/v is all about what YOU did, not the team.

-- We did lots of rehearsals with other people who had been through the process, and perhaps even more importantly, we were shown videos of our performance. This was very instructive for me, because it was clear that often, when asked a q, there was a VERY long pregnant pause before I answered. I had thought I was merely giving the Q the courtesy of a full consideration before replying, but when I saw the video, it just looked like I had no idea how to answer. They suggested techniques like saying something like "I find that a difficult question to answer; maybe I could speak from the perspective of ..."

-- Aggressive / confrontational aspects: not sure if this will apply in your case but in the role play part of our selection process they did try and put us under pressure to see if we would get flustered. So one of the "actors" would say things like "I don't understand why you are saying that ...". or "That can't be right ..." We then needed to stay calm and logical.

Writing this (& trying to be helpful, I hope) does bring it all back - not a very nice experience. I did in fact get promoted at the end of it, but I'm very glad I am now retired. Maybe this was an extreme organisation - it was a financial services company around 2005.

Good luck, and focus on WHY you are doing it - ends justifying means!

PatC

[Misti]

Hmm, how annoying. All my lists of example interview questions of this type are up at my uni-home rather than here.

The advice I was given, however, is that rather than preparing for particular questions, try and prepare notes on examples of situations you have been in which relate to what HR call 'competancies' or some similar term of blather. These can be things like "working collaboratively" or "prioritising customer needs" (remembering that customers can be internal as well as external) "delivering under pressure", "acting decisively", "drive and focus" are all other types I've come across. Depending on the company, it may be possible to find out exactly what competancies they are, otherwise look around large company websites or do internet searches for ideas

For each 'skill' or 'competancy' jot down three 'case studies' - two positive and one negative. In some of the more challenging interviews I went to, questions such as "Can you tell me about a time you've worked in a team and it was a total disaster",came up. Another classic is "Okay, can you give me another example" (for when you've used up your shiny good one).

By the end of this process you should end up with around 30 examples, all ready to pull out to answer a question of this type. It is better, I found, to have a large number of 'case studies' which could be adapted to different questions, than to try and prepare for particular questions.

Another thing is that it is often expected that the answer to these sorts of questions will be answered with a particular structure: STAR (situation, tast, actions, result... or similar acronym). Sorry if you've heard all this before, but basially it helps avoid woffling on indefinitely and makes it easier for the person taking notes to confirm that you've given the type of example / demonstrated the competancy or skill that they were after. I tend to forget the result or outcome, which is especially important for a 'negative' example: So you get to say what you learnt from the experience.

I hope this ramble was of some help, and good luck with the interview!

[Maizie]

I had "What has been you greatest success? And what has been your greatest failure?"

This was for a fresh out of uni person, so I was at a bit of a loss - I mean, my biggest success was probably getting in to uni, but that wasn't going to set me apart from anyone else applying!
So I started with my biggest failure (going to uni, dropping out in short order to the disappointment of everyone, organising self and uni so I could go back the next year and try another subject, etc) - after describing which, the interviewer said he thought that was probably also a great success, going against expectation and doing what was right for me, and so luckily I didn't have to think of a success (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[TSax]

One of the skills / capabilities / competencies they're likely to be assessing is "Communication Skills". There isn't really a specific question for this one. I tend to use an open-ended question like "Talk me through your career to date", or "Tell me about your final year / PhD project". I'm less interested in the answer, than in how you tell me. Evidence of good communication skills would be explaining things to me in a way that interests me; checking with me my background and level of understanding before launching into an explanation of the research project, and pitching the presentation accordingly; checking with me whether you're providing enough / not enough detail etc; making sure I don't make negative comments about my current employer / situation or reveal confidential information etc

My best candidate for this explained his very complicated physics PhD topic to me in a way that means I can still remember and understand it today (about 7 years later). My worst included a final year student who talked me through his final year project at a level of detail far too specialised to assume for an interviewer in a job in an unrelated field. Unfortunately for him it just happened to be the area I'd done my PhD in (not that he checked first) and he made some spectacular blunders. There was also the candidate who talked about his career in very great detail for 30 minutes without pause in response to my opening question.

I might also find, during this initial questioning that avenues open up for me to get to the "team work", "dealing with conflict" etc questions without having to ask them directly. As an interviewer I have a form to fill in afterwards with all the skills / capabilities / competencies listed. I have to grade the candidate (from Outstanding to Unacceptable) and write down some comments as to why. I hate having to put "Not enough evidence" against something, especially when the candidate is strong in other areas - this is when I'll start fishing for second or third examples if the first ones didn't quite give me what I need. I really like it when the candidate gives me nice clear examples of things they've done which means I can fill in the form easily. I much prefer to pass candidates through to the next round of the recruitment process than to reject them, and as an interviewer I always want you to do well.

[Vicky Violin]

I have an interview tomorrow morning so am in the same boat! I would recommend this amazing book Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Martin John Yate. I've been using it for about 12 years now to prepare for quite a few interviews and I have to say I've got the job almost every time!! It covers just about any question that's likely to come up and gives loads of other good advice. I can't recommend it enough. Going off to read it in time for tomorrow now!

[notmusimum]

I'm not sure you will get this one but it's the only time I've been really stuck in interview.

They asked me to talk about an organisation I'd worked for that shared resources etc with another organisation under different managementship.

If I'd had pre-warning I could have made something up but on the spot......

Best of luck Babybird2!

[onion]

I I would recommend this amazing book Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Martin John Yate.

I'd second that recommendation - it helped get me my first job. Most libraries have a copy - often tucked away in the reference section somewhere!

Good luck with the interview!

L

[PatC]

Another suggestion is to read most of a quality paper daily in the week or so before the i/v, esp. looking out for items that relate to the field / organisation ... Often interviewers struggle to find topics that will just get the interviewee talking and not be insanely boring for both parties.

They also like you to know about their company / organisation (after all, you are probably going to say you would really like to work there!) so looking at their website to see how they see themselves (eg. forward-looking; ethical; leading edge; tranditional; profit-focussed etc ) is a useful perspective.

When I was i/ving people in their 20s for junior financial services jobs, they would say they were interested in fs , but when I asked them an "open" q about fs news - what had caught their eye in the fs press over the last week, just to get them talking really, they often couldn't say, which was a bit embarrassing.

TSax's advice about thinking about the interviewer is very good - keep your eye on him / her, nothing wrong with saying (if a glazed look appears) - "Am I going into too much detail?" or "Would you like me to expand on that point!?"; or even - "Perhaps I am not answering your question?". Interaction is GOOD! and their instant feedback will often be there for the taking. As TSax said, you want to make sure you cover all the areas THEY are interested in, so they can tick all the right boxes on their form.

PatC

[louise1712]

The question that sticks in my memory from my last interview was 'What was the last book you read?'

They were looking for honesty rather than impressive sounding titles......

[maggiemay]

At a recent interview my daughter was asked ' what would your friends say are your three best points? and your three worst?'

[Babybird2]

Thank you forumites - you are all as useful as ever (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I just have to think of some answers/situations now! Some are easier than others - I have plenty of experience of team work, but very little in dealing with "difficult" people. Maybe I'm just lucky (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[all ears]

High Impact Interview Questions is a book I use to help students practice for job/scholarship/internship interviews.

This type of interview seems to be the mainstream nowadays, so I expect it will be with us for a while yet.

Good luck!

[BadStrad]

A friend of mine was asked "what part of your course did you find hardest?" He answered "Electromagnetism" (We were studying engineering). The interviewer just replied "Arh - yes." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
He'd obviously also struggled with it too.

Not sure that helps, other than I guess it sometimes pays to say the unexpected - rather than waffling (my tendency).